The UCI and the Movement for Credible Cycling (MPCC) have raised considerations about the usage of the highly effective opioid painkiller Tapentadol in skilled biking, in keeping with a report by Swiss newspaper Le Temps.
In a gathering of the Professional Cycling Council final month, the UCI highlighted its worries concerning the attainable use of Tapentadol, a painkiller it warns may very well be as much as “ten instances” extra highly effective than Tramadol.
According to Le Temps, the UCI sought and acquired permission from WADA on the finish of final yr so as to add Tapentadol to its monitoring programme with a view to ultimately banning the substance altogether.
That motion echoes how the UCI monitored the usage of Tramadol by anti-doping controls earlier than outlawing the drug’s use in competitors from March 2019. In January of this yr, Tramadol was added to the WADA banned checklist.
Tapentadol was first developed by German pharmaceutical firm Grünenthal within the Eighties. It acquired FDA approval within the United States in 2008 and was accredited in Europe two years later. The opioid is a Class A managed drug within the United Kingdom and is a Schedule I managed drug in Canada, in the identical class as morphine, fentanyl, Tramadol and heroin.
In the Professional Cycling Council assembly on May 29, the UCI outlined its considerations to representatives of riders, groups and race organisers. Le Temps quoted from the minutes of the assembly: “The UCI expressed their considerations for a brand new substance referred to as Tapentadol, which can presumably be used as a alternative for Tramadol. More evaluation is required but when used it’s believed to be ten instances stronger than Tramadol.”
MPCC president Roger Legeay confirmed to Le Temps that his organisation has written to WADA to name for the prohibition of Tapentadol, in a mirror of the group’s longstanding stance on Tramadol.
“It took us twelve years to get Tramadol banned. This time, we hope that the authorities will likely be faster,” Legeay stated.
“Healthy athletes don’t have any have to resort to therapeutic merchandise of this nature. Furthermore, it ought to be pressured that analgesics scale back or eradicate ache, which is a performance-enhancing issue.”
Eight WorldTour groups – Bora-Hansgrohe, Cofidis, Decathlon-AG2R, Groupama-FDJ, DSM-Firmenich-PostNL, Intermarché-Wanty, Arkéa-B&B Hotels and EF Education-EasyPost – are at the moment members of the MPCC.
